QUARK VENTURE’S PARTNER & CEO WEIGHS IN ON THE FUTURE OF AI AND ITS ROLE IN THE HEALTHCARE VERTICAL

“[AI in the use of healthcare is] going to be game-changing. The convergence of IT and medicine is fundamentally very promising. This intersection will allow physicians to be able to diagnose, treat, prescribe and intervene in patient management much better,” offered Es Sabar. “So, we’re very optimistic about it and we’re quite bullish in investing in this area.”

While AI and AI in healthcare aren’t new areas for investing, interest from investors in this specific sector is gaining momentum.

CONSIDERING PORTFOLIOS THAT ARE INTERSECTING AI & HEALTHCARE

“[Investors are] in the learning mode right now. There is an enormous amount of interest and it’s definitely moving in this direction,” says Es Sabar. “[Quark Venture has] invested inPhysIQand we’ve invested in a big data company calledPHEMIas well, so this is a space that we’re really starting to see this emerging convergent technology in healthcare and biotech.”

There’s no doubt the pairing and creation of synergies from data collection companies likePhysIQwith companies like Vancouver-basedPHEMImakes sense.PHEMIis a big data warehouse company that lets organizations easily access and mine any variety of data at any volume. It’s this associative approach to healthcare that’s encouraging to Es Sabar.

“The opportunity is the collaboration and working of biologists with IT experts and with artificial intelligence experts in developing that next generation of technology. I think it’s not going to be the separation and silo that we’ve seen historically where they come together at the end. I think the real future is folks working in an interdisciplinary way right from the onset and I think the opportunities are enormous.”